Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Lace Appams - Fluffy Rice Pancakes (no yeast)

This post is exactly a year old, so say Happy Birthday to my post that's finally seeing the light of day. I can't remember why I didn't post it for this long when it was sitting all ready in my drafts. This big lunch happened last year at my aunt's place before I left for Ahmedabad.

The weekend before I left, the entire family was invited to my aunt's place. She is an amazing cook and a perfectionist at everything. There was a huge spread including appams, vegetable stew, jumping potatoes, bhindi sasam, moog saar and bhapa dahi for desert. I was trying to bend over her shoulder to click these pictures, and I managed to get step-by-step pictures of the soft, fluffy lace appams.
Thank you K'maami for a fabulous lunch and all the recipes !

Appams go perfectly with the vegetable stew and as usual, my son with his sweet tooth, relished it with the narlya doodh or sweetened coconut milk
My aunt used a cast iron pan for this. There are non-stick pans available, that work well enough

Allow the pan to heat up and then drop in a spoon of oil, twirl it so it coats the pan well
Pour in a ladleful of batter in the centre of the pan...

Twirl the pan around, so that the batter moves evenly across and then settles down in the centre. If you pan does not have heat-proof handles, make sure you have something to protect your hands from the heat

Cover and allow it to cook for a minute and then take the lid off the pan

You should see the sides of the appam begin to turn slightly brown

Once the centre is cooked, gently ease the sides of the appam away from the pan using the appropriate ladle. Here its a cast iron pan, so you can use steel. For a non-stick pan, it usually comes with a thin wooden spoon

Serve this with some vegetable stew and sweetened coconut milk and you have a very satisfying Sunday brunch.

Soak the raw rice and boiled rice (if using) for 3-4 hours
Drain the water from the rice. If using cooked rice, add it to the drained rice and then grind it well, to a smooth consistency, adding little water, as required
Transfer the batter to a large container and ferment overnight
The batter should have risen by morning. Add coconut milk, salt and soda bicarbonate and mix well
The consistency of the batter should be like the dosa batter, not too thick, but thin enough to pour
Heat the appachatti / pan for the appams and when it is hot enough, lower the heat
Add a tsp of oil and twirl the pan so that the oil coats it completely
Pour a ladle of batter into the pan and twirl the pan again. Ensure that you use a cloth or oven mitts while holding the pan
The remaining batter will settle in the centre
Cover the pan for a minute or two and then take off the lid
Once the edges start to turn slightly brown, use an appropriate ladle to ease the appam out of the pan
Serve hot with stew / sweetened coconut milk